That’s what ‘some’ might say. Let them all rot in hell. But what is your perspective? Yea, Yours, you, who is rotting in hell? In neck deep, nay, nose deep shit. All you have is the eyes. And its not helping either. Because, you can bloody see that you are in shit, and you can’t do anything about it. Because, you can see everyone walking around you, looking down at you, down their nose, with that IToldYouSo kind of look. Aaargh..

The problem with shit is, no matter how experienced you are with shit, its not gonna help. It won’t help you mature, it wont help you handle shit better the next time.. When you’re in shit, You ARE. Accept it.

“Any lecturer”, he started.

Any lecturer you may come across, has the authority vested upon him, to declare that the whole class is full of idiots. Please note, I intend to stress on the “authority vested up on him” part a bit more than the others. I stress on it, for nobody can, and nobody will question the statement made by the tutor, that the whole class is full of dumb-asses. If such a comment is made in the staff room, everyone will take it for granted, and will start commenting on their experiences with stupid people. Its a downward spiral, a quicksand, where every teacher in the staff room will come to a prejudiced conclusion that the class is stupid. That’s the last nail on the coffin.

Any bloody idiot who have donned the mantle of a lecturer can blame the kids. The good teachers, the bad teachers, anybody. But we need to understand that there is no such thing as a bad student, there is only bad teachers. You’re a bad teacher, if you can’t ignite that flair in the kids’ mind which will attract them to your topic like Sunflowers to the sun. Lecture, experiment, show, make them experience, do whatever need to be done. But ignite that fire in them. Give them the confidence to explore. And you’ll receive a great community, who is brave, daring, truthful and eternally curious. A group of people who will love you, and sometimes, even worship you.

Blame them not. Appreciate in public, criticize in private. Whenever a reprimand need be done, call him/her in private and talk to him in slow voice. A loud voice will never penetrate a defiant mind. Accept what they’ve done, understand the cause and discuss on it. For them to understand your point, you first need to understand their point. For all the small small good stuff they’ve done, call to the staff room, and in LOUD voice, appreciate them. For all the people who got 46+/50, write in BIG BOLD LETTERS, Well done. If possible, write with that red pen on top, “get this signed by your parents and group tutor”.

I’m eternally thankful to my dad. For he taught me, not how to lecture, not how to teach. But how to be a mentor.

But no. I don’t think I’ve got much control over my reputation. When I deliver a session to 100 people, there are 100 different reputations formed about me. Some will be based on the content of the delivery, some on my mannerisms, and some on the amount on the heretical speech I try to push in through. And a hundred more parameters on which I’ll be weighed, calculated and finally, judged.

If so wide is the array of probable options, what could happen, when the reputation can be influenced by our actions too?? The more I thought about it, the more I came to understand the futility of our human desire to be recognized. We do everything to impress people. We wear the dress to impress, whether it be good or bad. Some people dress nicely, and neatly to impress people. And some, wear low waist jean, so tight, that it’ll look like you went skinny dipping in blue paint.

Frankly, I’m not making a judgement. I’m not telling this is right and this is wrong, NO. This whole post is a gentle note, that no matter what you do, what you wear, what you ride, different people make different assumptions about you. Some will hate you, and some will love you- both, in different degrees of magnitude. So, in the end, it will all come to the basic question “did you really want to do that”, Did you really want to wear that? If so, were you comfortable there, in all its sense?

If yes, good. If no.. well what can I say.

So, I should take this up. Starting a new blog.. Possible that I’ll add collaborators, so that they too can contribute. Will soon post all that I’ve come to know about kochi and food.

Here is the link: https://eatoutkochi.wordpress.com/

Her lips are red, red as plum
My hands are cold, cold as ice.
She is cool, and I here sweat.
Locks of her hair barring the sight.

She then smile, oh smiled and asked,
‘Mind if I poke around a bit?’
Intimidated, yes. But proud me, I can’t surrender.
Go ahead, I nodded.

And she touched, as gentle as a lamb.
Left me counting butterflies in my stomach.
She comes closer, and I feel the heat.
I sweat more, If that can be.

‘You are drooling’, she smirked.
‘Must be the effect’, mumbled poor me.
I gulped, and she patted my cheek.
I try breathe, all her breath.

She got up, and I felt the stab in my chest
I wish she never went afar.
‘Get up. or you’ll be late to get home
I know it will hurt. So come tomorrow, if need be.’

I got up, and looked into her eyes..
It was love, pity or sympathy, I never know.
Eat the pills before you sleep.
‘t’ll be 1000 bucks, said the dentist.

Bit then, of late, I’ve been thinking. Why not start a blog on Kochi eat outs? Mean, anyone who if new here would benefit from it, right?

The plan is to start from kakkanad, go all the way to marine drive covering various hotel on both sides. Then Do the same from thrippoonithura to medical trust. And also. Kalamassery to palarivattom.

Once the east what roads are done, we’ll check the north south roads.  It’s gonna be a gift task. Let’s see how to get on with it..

The snuffbox and the seeds

A young girl was there, once. Sweet and smiling and jumping all the time. She used to call me.. Aah. Leave it. Names are of no consequence here.
She used to look up to me. And I, eager to show her the path she should take.
She used to whine about how difficult people can become to her. And I retorted, Life’s a bitch. We’ll have to face it anyway.
She gave me a snuffbox full of Lucky Red seeds. Wanted me to promise I’ll keep them forever. Oh. Promise, I did.

Then she found love, and I laid myself down for her to walk over me so that she can reach her love. I was happy. Oh, yea I was happy.

Days passed and I called myself Brute for still being in her close proximity. I had come to know, I had become an unwanted mite in the lovers paradise. I left.

I continued to exist. Just exist.

Times passed. I grew older and I found life to be indeed much more bitchier than I ever knew. I was there, just a phone call away for her. Anything at all for my little sister. But time had passed. Even she grew older.

I never knew she grew so much, that she sabotaged my dream. Blasted one relation I cherished in my heart for years. I was ready to wait. But then there she was, laughing at me, retorting what I once said.

Yes Big B, Life is a bitch. You need to move on. No, I need you to get outta here.

I sit here, in the rain throwing those pebbles in the puddle. Small red pebbles. It is indeed interesting that Lucky Red Seeds make the job of a good pebble.

I’ll keep the snuffbox. To remember the child she used to be. To remember the bitch she has come to be.

I was not in the office, and was called up to talk to the customer on Phone. I came. Had to study the whole issue first and dug my brains out; along with the brains of all the kids who were there with me. Brought out the possible inputs that we could give him, in order to clean the mess up.

Next discussion was about the possible scenarios that would wait for me once I dial the number. Well, best case scenario was out of question. Simply, just like that. Worst possible, we’ll lose the customer. That is bad. But that can’t be THAT bad, na

I took a deep breath, took the receiver, dialed the number.
Hello, Good Morning, Dave
Hey Jeevs, How’re ya. Its good to hear your voice, after all the chat we had.

… and so started the discussion.

You have no idea how good it went. Can definitely say, Way better than the Best case we could have hoped for! Mean, whatever we said was perfectly acceptable for them. Our solutions, taken.

I was feeling as if I almost (yea, **almost**) made a client sign the joining doc.

The thing I want to say out here is, written words–> bad. Mean, You are not in direct contact with the guys at the other end, and You don’t have to get the response then and there. You need not face it. So, You’ll be harsh, you can be bloody harsh.

On the other hand, when we talk, a slight shift in tone will produce an almost immediate response. Half the people won’t risk it. They’re not brave enough. I would say, talk any issue out. If face to face, the better.

I’ve got a problem. I read e books, on occult, of all kinds of alternative psychic stuff, and stuff like Chirognomy or palmistry.. So once you read a lot of such stuff, by default the one of the very first things I notice in one will be his palm. Trust me, you get an ocean full of information once you give it a serious look.

His hands are short. The palm is short, the fingers are short. I would say, rather stout. The lines are very prominent. You can’t catch many lines there either. His is earth hand. People with an earth hand have square palms with short fingers. There are usually very few lines and often arches on the fingertips. People with this hand don’t like change..

They are emotionally stable and make the best workers. Interesting is the fact that you often find successful artists and photographers with earth hands. People with an Earth hand usually like outdoor jobs, and prefer job security. They are best suited to assign a task to. No matter what, it will be finished perfectly.

Earth hand is the hand of a perfect soldier. Or, a perfect General. He never thinks of conquering, he just thinks of completing the task that is put forth. He never thinks of glory or fame. Its all about duty.

In my list, the name is Gareth Bryne. And I am one very happy man to have the privilege to have met him in person.